From the email I sent my family

Hello all.  I figured I'd write an email since we are moving into our house tomorrow and I don't know when our internet will be hooked up.  So, we are finally leaving this place.  It's like a little comfort zone where everyone speaks English and now we have to go out into actual Italy.  I'm excited.  We went through our house yesterday for an inspection and I love it still.  This is probably a repeat, but just in case. . . it's brand new, light tile on the middle floor, dark hardwood floors and the stairs and upstairs, and a tannish color tile for the basement.  And the floors are heated!!!  I love it.  Charlotte likes it too.  She kept lying on the floor and crawling around all over the place.  I think Ginger will like it too.  The kitchen cabinets are white and all modern looking.  Dad is really excited about our 2 bidets in the bathrooms and the towel warmers.  We have a 2 car garage, which if Kyle's office moves we talked about buying one of those new Fiat 500's.  Super small, but great for his commute and gas mileage.  Our Mercedes is super fun to drive, but I think we'd have to sell it before coming back since it has European specs on it.  

We've found a couple of great restaurants here with fantastic pasta dishes.  It's amazing how much better it is.  So fresh.  Dad even says that the Burger King on base has better produce on their hamburgers.  The hot chocolate is super thick and great.  You have to put your own sugar in it because it's not as sweet and the croissants are flaky like they were in Denmark.  It's pretty expensive over here we've learned as well.  

Well we made it to Venice today.  Holy crapola.  You come out of the train station and your smack in the middle with a canal in front of you.  It's in the middle of Carnivale right now so there are a lot of people dressed up with masks on.  I bought Evy a fancy pink and gold one.  Let me know if any kids would want one.  We just got a taste today and walked down all these narrow streets with water on the other side with gondolas running down them.  We'll go back with Kyle this weekend and go to St Mark's square.  I'm in love already.  It makes me really excited for you all to come.  I'm excited just to show you Vicenza.  It's so charming.  We were on the bus today and you could have stuck your arm out either side and touched the buildings.  

I'm still waiting to get the girls' immunization records before I can enroll them in anything.  So it's a good thing Evy is only in preschool.  I'm planning on sending her to an Italian school right away, which is going to be a lot of work, but I think so worth it.  Hopefully we can find one with 1 or 2 other American's.  I'm afraid she'll get beaten up.  Apparently that can be a problem over here.  The teachers are all about letting kids work it out themselves.  Then I'm planning on signing her up for ballet or gymnastics and swimming on base with Americans.  The ballet teacher is Italian, but she is a member of the church and goes to the Italian branch.

Oh, we also went to Nove which is famous for ceramics.  In case any of you want ceramics, let me know.  Marostica is just beyond Nove and has a castle on top of a mountain with a brick wall coming down on both sides.  It's really cool and every even year they hold a live chess tournament in the square.  It'll be this September.

Okay, I think that's all for now.  I'll let you know if I think of anything else.  I miss you all terribly and hope to see you soon.  I love you.

Ciao, 

Linzi